Ollie Vance - Book Two: Ashes and Smoke

Chapter One

You’ve probably heard it before but there’s something therapeutic about cooking. There was a certain joy to be discovered in creating something exquisite from items that, on their own and without some magic touch, were quite ordinary. 

I don’t always do it for therapy but my life lately has been full of things that set my nerves on the edge. All that nervous energy has been channeling itself out of my system through hours I’ve spent cooped up in my kitchen, at home or in the bakeshop I inherited from my mother, stirring wonders both in the pot and in the oven.

Which is why on this late Friday morning, I’d left a wonderful man in my bed, slipped on a robe over my cotton nightie and padded down barefoot to the kitchen to get started on a mushroom-and-meat cannelloni recipe I wrote up the night before.

I took out the glass dish from the oven and carefully peeled the foil cover off, the steam wafting up to my face and filling the room with the juicy scent of tomatoes and earthy notes of cremini mushrooms.

“That looks and smells heavenly,” a husky male voice said behind me as a muscular arm slinked around my waist and warm lips brushed against the nape of my neck.

I smiled and tossed the oven-mitts aside before turning around in Jack’s arms.

“You’re just in time,” I said before pressing a brief kiss on his chin. “It’s all done and ready for you to take home.”

Jack tilted his head and laughed softly. “I’m getting a little too spoiled with these home-cooked meals, Ollie, but I’m not going to complain. I love your food as much as I love spending time with you.”

My eyes fluttered close as Jack leaned down to kiss me slowly and sweetly.

Yes, Jack Whitfield, the same guy I’d put aside during our first date to scramble to Tristan’s rescue. He’d stayed away after sensing I was involved with Tristan and at that time he’d been right. I thought there was something there too with the handsome, charismatic immortal who was sweeping me off my feet and playing my hero several times but the day after the disastrous opening of the Mansion, after we survived a were-demon invasion and made passionate love twice, he withdrew from me. He emerged from his meeting with Devon looking somber and with all that he had to deal with at that time, I could understand why but I didn’t expect him to never call me again after he drove me home later that day. He didn’t even get out of his car—just gruffly asked if I was feeling better as I’d gotten banged up the night before and then told me to call him if anything bothered me.

I thought I’d let him off the hook at that time, attributing his odd behavior to stress but it’s been almost a month since then. When I didn’t hear from him after a week, I decided I knew the answer and it was one that stung like hell. 

Let me back up here and give you a little idea about Tristan Black. 

He came to Willow over a month ago after purchasing the Ruddard Mansion and turning it into a luxurious bed and breakfast. Other than being a wealthy entrepreneur, he is also a powerful, supernatural being accompanied by an odd gang of mixed supernaturals made up of two female vampires, Irina and Arabella, Cage the werewolf and whatever Stigger is. The first time I ran into him he was buck naked having sex with a crazy demon-woman who tried to attack me. That should’ve really been enough reason for me to stay away from him other than the obvious endangerment of my life getting involved in otherworldly business. 

I knew he was going to break my heart. He made no pretenses about wanting me nor did he deny his wandering tendencies. I walked in on him playing saddle with a vampire bar-owner after he came to her to further ‘investigate’ the appearance of the were-demons. I also got some bitching from the gorgeous event-planner he had also slept with in the past.